1. Field
The disclosure relates generally to data processing system protection and more specifically to protecting a data processing system from unintentional malware download.
2. Description of the Related Art
Malicious software, or malware for short, is any software used to disrupt computer operations, gather sensitive information stored on computers, or gain access to private computer systems and networks, for example. Malware is an umbrella term referring to a variety of hostile or intrusive software, such as, for example, computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware, and other malicious programs.
Malware often gets into an individual's personal computer or mobile device or into an enterprise's computer network via an email attachment or a link to a Web site that contains malware. When a user clicks on an attachment in an email, an email program opens the attachment with a program, such as a word processing program. After the program opens the email attachment, the user's device may become infected with malware if the program that opens the attachment has a vulnerability that an attacker can exploit with a carefully designed attachment. Similarly, when a user clicks on a link to a Web site in an email, the user's device may become infected if the Web site contains some carefully crafted malware. These malicious attacks, known as phishing attacks when an email casts a wide net to multiple individuals or spear-phishing attacks when an email targets a particular individual, have been a problem for some time.